Pop: Spurs’ offense can’t be solo act

OKLAHOMA CITY — When Spurs coach Gregg Popovich looks at film from Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference finals and compares it to Games 3, 4, and 5, he sees two teams that are mirror images of each other.

And not in a good way, if you’re the Spurs.

“I think the first two games, Oklahoma City didn’t do a very good job of hitting the open man,” Popovich said. “They were pretty hell bent for leather and didn’t really play with all the pieces, and we took those games.

“And (now), it’s sort of reversed.”

The Spurs are down 3-2 in the series heading into Game 6 tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena, after opening with a 2-0 lead.

During the past three games, the Thunder have spread the scoring wealth among role players such as Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha and Daequan Cook.

The Spurs’ offense, meanwhile, has at times looked like more of a solo act.

“When I look at the film now, you can see us try to do some things on our own,” Popovich said. “Too many people doing it on their own — out of good intent — but it leads to contested shots, leads to turnovers, that kind of thing, where you see Oklahoma City passing the ball and playing like we did in the first two games.”

With the ball failing to move during much of their three losses, the Spurs have totaled 57 assists and 52 turnovers. They have committed 21 turnovers apiece three times, including a Game 1 in which they were victorious.

Manu Ginobili has coughed up a team-high 15 turnovers in the past three games. Tony Parker has 11.

OKC got 28 points off turnovers in Monday night’s 108-103 Game 5 victory at the AT&T Center that went down to the wire.

“They are a good enough team already,” Popovich said. “I don’t think they need our help.”

Neal skips flight: Guard Gary Neal was not on board the Spurs’ flight to Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Popovich said.

“He’s not feeling well,” Popovich told the Express-News before the charter plane left San Antonio.

Asked if it was anything serious, Popovich said, “No.”

A Spurs spokesperson later said Neal is “a little sick” but scheduled to join the team tonight.

In 15 minutes off the bench Monday, Neal scored two points on a pair of free throws. He was 0 for 6 from the field, including 0 for 3 from 3-point territory.

Cashing in: At this point in the postseason, money is the last thing on the minds of the players on the four teams still alive, but there is a large chunk at stake in both conference finals.

The teams that make it to the NBA Finals will add at least $1,525,515 to the pool of money to be split. That is the amount the losing team in the Finals receives. The players on the title team will split $2,302,232.

The Spurs went into the Western Conference finals with a playoff pool of $1,097,592. They earned $328,078 of that for their first-place finish in the Western Conference in the regular season.

When faced with similar challenges last season, Collison thinks the Thunder would have lost the game.

“Last year in those games, it seems like every one of those games got away from us,” Collison said. “I don’t know the stats, but we had a lot of leads in those games. When things started going bad, we started to lose it a little bit, and it made it worse. Now, we’ve been able to snap out of it and play better.”

No guarantees: After taking control of the series with three straight victories, Oklahoma City’s Scott Brooks is on the verge of making his first trip to the NBA Finals as a coach.

But the Spurs will remain a formidable obstacle in Game 6, Brooks said.

“We’re on our home floor, but that doesn’t guarantee automatic victory,” he said. “They’re not going to give us the game. They’re not just going to say we lost three in a row, we’re going to give in.

“We know we have a tough challenge ahead. We know we have a great opportunity, although we just have to play with the same energy, the same force, the same determination that we did the last few games.”